Path One of the most well-known is called PATH on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It specifies the directories in which executable programs* are located on the machine that can be started without knowing and typing the whole path to the file on the command line. (Or in Windows, the Run dialog in the Start Menu or + R).
What are PATH and other environment variables, and how can I set or use ...
What does "/" , "./", "../" represent while giving path? Let's be precise: "/"is a path which begins with a /, and thus it is an absolute path. Thus, we need to begin in the root of the file system and navigate through the folders given by name, whereas the names are separated by /s (because this is the unix path separator). Thus, / is the root of the file system with no folders entered after ...
In layman's terms, a path (or the search path) is the list of directories that will be searched for anything that you type on the command line. If you type in a built-in command like ls, it will look for a specified list of directories.
PATH is a global operating system variable that contains names of files that are to be executed without specyfing the whole path to them. For example You can just write startx to start graphic environemnt instead of /bin/some other folders/startx
What is the PATH environment variable and how do I add to it?
It is usually safer to add your custom path to the end of PATH instead of the beginning. This avoids accidentally replacing system commands with your programs (or someone else's malicious programs). This also avoids a lot of confusion when someone else works on your system (or gives you advice) and they get unexpected results from commands you have "replaced".
shell - How can I edit the $PATH on linux? - Super User